Usable in Everyday Life Too?
Was this something that could be used in everyday life too?
“……Who’s there—huh?”
Naturally, Ha Yerin flinched at the sudden appearance of Na Hanna stepping into the practice room.
“Hanna… why…?”
“…Unnie, what are you doing?”
“Ah… nothing, just…”
Swoosh—.
When Na Hanna asked, Ha Yerin belatedly hid the tablet PC behind her back.
But Na Hanna had already seen her replaying the music video for Magical Love☆, and she said,
“I saw everything you were doing from outside. You were watching the Strawberry Filter MV, right?”
“Ah… yeah.”
“Why? Hoping some arrangement idea might pop up?”
“…….”
The lack of an answer made it clear she was right.
When Na Hanna pressed further, Ha Yerin hesitated a moment before replying.
“…During the first team battle it was a similar situation, and replaying the MV is what gave me the answer. I figured maybe it’d happen again this time… so I was just watching a bit.”
“…….”
Having watched the previous Na-ah broadcast, Na Hanna already knew that Ha Yerin had been the one steering the entire stage for the Mackerel Sandwich team in the first team battle.
Turning “Where is my first love!” into a nerd concept had been Yerin unnie’s idea.
But that idea had come from replaying the MV?
She got lucky.
Na Hanna didn’t want to diminish Ha Yerin’s skill, but honestly, luck had played a big part.
And… the odds of that kind of luck striking twice in a row were low.
Even if she stares at the MV a hundred times, nothing’s going to come of it.
From Na Hanna’s efficiency-first perspective, what Ha Yerin was doing right now looked thoroughly inefficient.
They’d already decided to stick with the current arrangement, so heading back to the room to sleep and conserve stamina would have been far more efficient.
Na Hanna opened her mouth to say something to Ha Yerin, then…
Forget it. Who am I to give advice?
She simply shook her head and shut her mouth.
“Hanna, why’d you come back to the practice room, though? Were you going to practice more…?”
“No, not that. I think I left my eye mask here.”
Na Hanna answered and began scanning the room for the eye mask she’d come to retrieve.
Fortunately, it was sitting neatly on the table.
“Ah, here it is. Found it, so I’ll head out.”
“…Okay. See you.”
“…When are you leaving, unnie?”
“Ah… me…”
Ha Yerin scratched the back of her head a little as she answered.
“I’ll watch the MV a bit more, then go. You head in first.”
“…….”
Na Hanna was certain that Ha Yerin’s “a bit more” would not be a bit more at all.
Well… that still wasn’t any of her business.
Figuring Ha Yerin would handle herself, Na Hanna turned her back.
“…Alright. I’ll go first.”
“Mm.”
But then…
Thud.
…Ah.
Before she could even take a single step, someone came to mind and forced her to stop.
That someone was none other than Na Hanna’s own older sisters.
In the sight of Ha Yerin stubbornly digging a dry well… Na Hanna saw her sisters’ past.
Na Hanna’s older sisters were fairly well-known professional dancers.
When freelance work came in they choreographed for idols… toured the world for dance festivals… shot Shorts… occasionally backed top stars. They were doing well.
But their dream had never been simply to be dancers.
Idols.
Her sisters had wanted to become idols.
Na Hanna knew how stubbornly they had practiced for it ever since elementary school.
But…
The older sister never debuted at all, and the younger one debuted in a third-tier group only to vanish without a sound.
Na Hanna still remembered how heartbroken they had been.
That was also when she learned that frustration and unhappiness scale directly with effort and expectation.
The reason she slept so much… probably started then too.
Because when you sleep, you don’t have to do anything or think about anything.
Anyway…
Looking at Ha Yerin now, Na Hanna couldn’t help but speak.
“…Unnie.”
“Hm? Hanna, aren’t you going?”
“Let’s just go back together.”
“…What?”
Of course Ha Yerin was different from her sisters.
She was wildly popular and had a high chance of succeeding even after debut.
Knowing that didn’t make it any easier for Na Hanna to stop once the words had started.
“…Watching that isn’t going to give you an answer anyway.”
“…….”
“…Let’s just go sleep. That seems better.”
“Well… maybe, but if I keep looking…”
“If you keep putting in pointless effort, the disappointment only gets bigger, you know?”
“…Huh?”
Maybe that was why.
“If you know something won’t work, you should learn how to give up fast. Better to just sleep than waste time on useless stuff.”
Without realizing it, Na Hanna’s wording had turned a little harsh.
“…….”
When Na Hanna showed agitation for the first time, Ha Yerin’s face filled with surprise.
And Na Hanna was just as surprised.
…Crap.
Realizing her mistake in an instant, Na Hanna clapped a hand over her mouth and looked around.
And…
Ziiing—.
…Sure enough, the always-on camera abandoned in the corner of the practice room had captured everything.
“Ah, I’m screwed.”
Plenty of people liked Na Hanna’s signature sleepy vibe, but what audiences really wanted to see on an idol survival show was the bright face of a trainee who never lost hope.
Yet she had just spouted outright pessimistic remarks right in front of the camera.
And in a way that looked like she was snapping at the individual vote leader, Ha Yerin, no less.
Not quite a total fall from grace… but if this airs, my image is going to take a hit.
Irritation at her own failure to control her emotions, plus the sheer hopelessness of the mess she’d made…
“Ah, whatever.”
…Na Hanna simply flopped down onto the practice room floor.
When her head got complicated, lying flat like this at least made her body comfortable and eased things a little.
Of course, Ha Yerin—who didn’t know this side of her—stared as if she’d lost her mind.
“…Hanna, what are you doing? Why all of a sudden…”
“…I don’t know. I don’t even know why I’m like this. Maybe my brain’s glitching because I passed my scheduled bedtime… Ah… this isn’t working.”
Na Hanna put on the eye mask she’d just retrieved and settled into a comfortable position.
“…Unnie. I’m going to close my eyes for five minutes. If I’m asleep after five minutes, wake me up, okay?”
“S-sure.”
“Don’t mind me. You can keep watching the MV.”
“Ah… okay.”
At Na Hanna’s words, Ha Yerin started the music video again.
Only the volume gradually dropped until it finally went silent.
She seemed to be considering Na Hanna lying there with the eye mask on.
“…….”
“…….”
A few minutes of silence passed like that…
“But Hanna.”
“…Yes.”
Ha Yerin asked carefully.
“What was that earlier? About pointless effort only making the disappointment bigger, and all that… Did something happen to you before?”
“…….”
This time Na Hanna slowly opened her mouth.
“…It’s not about me. It’s about my sisters.”
…She must have been so tired she wasn’t in her right mind.
Normally she would never have overlapped Ha Yerin with her sisters… never have meddled in someone else’s business…
And she definitely wouldn’t have talked about her sisters in a situation like this…
Forgetting the camera was even there, Na Hanna spilled everything to Ha Yerin.
Her mind felt hazy… almost like she was drunk on sleep.
“…That’s how it went.”
“…I see.”
Still, once she’d said it, Na Hanna felt a little lighter. She took off the eye mask.
She’d calmed down, so she figured she’d head back to the room and sleep.
What just got caught on camera… ah, whatever. I’ll sleep first and think about it tomorrow.
Thinking that, Na Hanna stood up.
That was when it happened.
“Hanna… you were a coward, huh.”
“…Excuse me?”
Na Hanna, who had just gotten to her feet, paused at Ha Yerin’s incomprehensible words, then…
“Hanna, you were a coward who wouldn’t even try or put in effort because you were scared of failing like your sisters.”
“…What did you just say?”
Ha Yerin’s next line made her face harden.
Being called a coward herself was fine.
But her sisters had failed?
Unable to hold back the sudden anger, Na Hanna raised her voice.
“Our sisters failed? Our sisters did not fail. What are you talking about?”
They might not have become the idols they first dreamed of, but her sisters were living happy lives as dancers now.
When Na Hanna pressed her like that, Ha Yerin smiled gently and answered.
“Yeah, I know. Your sisters are really amazing people.”
“That’s right, so why…!”
“Then why did you call the effort your sisters put in ‘pointless effort’?”
“……!”
Swoosh—.
The moment Na Hanna blanked out, Ha Yerin rested a hand on her head and gently stroked it as she continued.
“There’s no such thing as pointless effort. The reason your sisters are making names for themselves as dancers now is because of the effort they put in back then. Hanna… did your sisters ever regret spending so long as idol trainees?”
“…….”
Shake, shake.
At Ha Yerin’s question, Na Hanna wordlessly shook her head.
Her sisters had been sad when they gave up on being idols, but they had never once regretted the idol life itself.
“It’s the same now. Like you said, practicing efficiently without rearranging and putting on a safe stage might be the better choice. But…”
“…….”
“I want to do a stage I won’t regret. If putting in effort right now can make the stage better, I won’t regret it at all. But to do that…”
Slide—.
The hand that had been stroking Na Hanna’s head slowly descended and cupped her cheek.
“I need your help, Hanna. Hanna… will you help your unnie?”
“…….”
“Let’s work hard together and make a stage we won’t regret.”
…Why was it?
In that moment, Na Hanna once again saw her sisters’ faces overlapping with Ha Yerin’s.
So clear… so confident.
Faces she simply couldn’t help but love… couldn’t help but look up to.
Maybe that was why.
Nod.
“…Okay.”
Something the old Na Hanna would have dismissed as pointless effort… she nodded and agreed to help.
It had happened before she even realized it.
Nod.
“…Okay.”
Watching Na Hanna nod and agree to help me…
……This actually worked?
I couldn’t help but be flustered.
To explain, I have to go back a few minutes.
After every teammate had returned to the dorm… I stayed alone in the practice room replaying the Magical Love☆ music video.
I was hoping that, just like in the first team battle, an idea might come to me while I watched.
Of course, my mood while looping the MV alone in the practice room wasn’t great.
“Ah… it feels like something’s about to click…”
If we just poured a little more time into it, we could dress the stage up with a good idea, yet the teammates had given up on the stage way too fast, and that annoyed me.
Especially Na Hanna.
A young kid giving up that easily…
“Haa… my head hurts. Maybe I should rest a bit.”
Thinking about Na Hanna made my head ache, so I tilted it back for a moment.
And…
[00 : 37]
The clock past midnight came into view.
Reminding myself that another day had already passed, I thought of Heavenly Demon Illusion.
The first skill of Heavenly Demon Divine Art that I’d failed to cast earlier—Heavenly Demon Illusion.
Its cooldown was one day.
So does that mean I can use it after twenty-four hours pass, or the moment the calendar day changes?
While I was pondering the cooldown of Heavenly Demon Illusion…
Heavenly Demon Divine Art — 1st Skill
Heavenly Demon Illusion is being cast!
“……?”
Just by thinking about it, Heavenly Demon Illusion suddenly activated…
Creak—.
“……Who’s there—huh?”
And the completely unexpected Na Hanna opened the practice room door and appeared.
……No way?
Did Heavenly Demon Illusion just properly activate?
Was this usable in everyday life too?
“Hanna… why…?”
“…Unnie, what are you doing?”
“Ah… nothing, just…”
It was still too early to jump to conclusions, but somehow I had the feeling that Heavenly Demon Illusion had landed cleanly.
And that left me thoroughly flustered.